Sunk 535

[Stevel100]

Thanks. Did yours look like mine? This is a 1972 single skinned hull at least I think it is single skin. Not going to drill a hole to find out never heard of a limber hole

[vreagh]

Mine is was described as a Shetland 69 when I ordered it in late '68. It's pretty much the same moulds as a 535 but there are small differences. Yours looks like mine but has the later shape side windows, mine are a half circle at the rear. On later boats the raised part of the fore deck was contiued along the cabin side and the transom height was raised. The advantage of the early boats is that resin and fibreglass was cheap and so the boats are much heavier layup than the later boats. I have an inboard engine in mine and when drilling for seacocks found the hull to be 1/2 inch thick. This would be rare after the oil crisis in '74. It could also be a problem when choosing a trailer as the boat is much heavier than the quoted weight for a 535. Could be why they went to double skinning. They are certainly a tough old boat. Limber holes are just holes joining the lowest parts of the bilge allowing water to drain to a central point.

[535Mustard]

Very interesting to hear about some of the history of the 535.

I have had a few of the later ones.
They are tough boats, it's a long story but I 'dropped' my old one in a car park once.
The trailer wheels went in an unseen hole and I had the winch strap disconnected, the trailer stopped and the boat didn't, it came totally off the trailer as I was traveling backwards at the time.
But, other than the antifouling being scratched there wasn't a mark on it.
So I winched it back on the trailer, checked it over then launched it and used it for the weekend, no probs.
(Sorry to Steve who bought it off me, he is a member here and I never told him that story )

I have also found they must be heavier than the listed weight.
I bought a new trailer once unbraked 750kgs and it literally bent under my 535, so I sold it again and bought a 1200kg trailer secondhand, that has been spot on.

But back to the thread, glad you have yours out the water now and can make progress, it must have rained heavy to sink it, mine never gets any water in it, well none that I notice at least